Sunday, April 26, 2009

Did you realize...

This came up Friday night from one of our commenters: Did we realize that L.E.O. will actually be born under the zodiac sign Leo? To which the answer is:

1) Yes, but2) We didn't notice it until a month after the blog started (and therefore several months after the project started), and3) We take pretty much zero truck with astrology, at least partially because4) The sun won't actually be between the IAU boundary of the constellation Leo and the earth when L.E.O. is actually born.

The sun will actually be pretty close to Asellus Australis, the central star in Cancer--assuming due dates stick appropriately. I suspect Jenny will have been induced long before the sun gets near the Cancer-Leo boundary (9h20m, or about 10 August).

Interestingly, it appears that Hindu astrologers use a zodiac that more closely resembles at least a vague match with the actual ecliptic. One wonders if the Forer effect would hold just as well for horoscopes produced by both sets of astrologers, or if people would actually be able to differentiate between the two. My bet is, as always, on Forer.